Here we will talk about 5 main things to consider, because buying a index fund is a huge deal as any other investment you will ever make no matter if you invest in stocks, real estate, funds or simply yourself.
Trading costs
In this one if the fees of transactions or commissions aren’t waived you might want to consider how much a broker or even a fund company / brand. And these brokers and companies / brands are charging you as an investor to buy or sell the index fund.
Fund selection
In this one you gotta ask yourself a simple question which is “Do you want to purchase index funds from various fund families?”.
These big companies which sell index funds are sort of carrying some of their competitors’ funds, but the selection may be more limited than what’s available in a discount broker’s lineup.
Convenience.
This third one is about finding a single provider who can accommodate all your needs.
Impact investing
In this one you also gotta ask yourself a question but this time it is “Want your investment to make a difference outside your portfolio?”.
Some of these main index funds may track benchmarks which target companies with more women in leadership positions. or even in global companies in the clean energy universe or high environmental, social and governance ratings.
Commission-free options.
And this last one also involves a question to also yourself and this time it is the question is “Do they offer no-transaction-fee mutual funds or commission-free ETFs?”.
And this last point is an important criterion we use to rate discount brokers.
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